I’ve enjoyed the kohlrabi I’ve gotten in my CSA boxes. It’s a vegetable I like a lot but seldom find it in my supermarket. I don’t recall seeing it at the farmers’ market, either, so finding it in my CSA share made me happy.

But as happy as it makes me, I’ve been lacking in kohlrabi recipes. So one day I sat down with the omniscient Goggle and searched. Sauerkraut! I had never thought of making sauerkraut with kohlrabi, but it sure sounded good. I’ve fermented kohlrabi as part of a mixed vegetable blend, but never as sauerkraut.

If you have a favorite sauerkraut recipe, simply replace the cabbage with the kohlrabi. The only difference I found common to most recipes was in how to prepare the kohlrabi. When making cabbage sauerkraut, most of us shred it. When using kohlrabi, grate it rather than shred it. I used my box grater, and it did a great job. Other than that, it’s the same as sauerkraut. The only changes I made to my cabbage kraut recipe was to add onion and caraway seeds; I usually don’t add caraway.

My cabbage kraut usually ferments for at least 4 weeks. I checked my KO (kohlrabi and onion) kraut after 2 weeks, and it was perfect! I’m not sure the quick fermentation to taste is characteristic of kohlrabi sauerkraut or just because it’s been so bleedin’ hot in here. Either way, it demonstrates the importance of giving your ferments a taste from time to time.

Now that I had my KO kraut, what to do with it? Well I ate some, of course. But the simple fact of the matter is that I may like making sauerkraut more than actually eating it. You can freeze it, but I’ve never been really happy with the results. Fortunately, it keeps well in the refrigerator. Assuming you have room. Space in my fridge is at a premium, so I’m always looking for other ways to keep my ferments.

And then I found it. Well someone in the Fermenters Kitchen group on Facebook did. Dehydrate it! She dehydrates cabbage kraut successfully, so I saw no reason it wouldn’t work with KO kraut. I drained but did not rinse the kraut and placed it on the clean screens of my dehydrator. To maintain as many probiotics as I could and still dehydrate, I set the temp at about 105 degrees. In about 6 hours, trays filled with KO kraut looked like this.

Will I make this again? Oh yeh. I anticipate dehydrating all kinds of krauts. They’ll be good on burgers and hotdogs, other sandwiches, salad additions, and soup toppings. Then there’s that whole snacking thing!

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The Enabling Cook

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